I was as stuck as I hope to ever be today :-(

[canoetrpr]

I have an incredibly muddy area where my manure pile is. Overall my property is in a valley and wet but the topsoil is black black organic stuff and deep since manure has been stored in this area for eons.

I was able to go in and dump manure fine but then I also have a pile of gravel in this area I have kept from a previous project. Thought I'd get a few buckets of it for a ramp my cows go over from one of their winter pens to the pole barn.

Boy was that ever a mistake. I got stuck and made the mistake of digging myself in there. Had my snowblower attached and it was stuck in the mud as well. Unhooked the blower and futzed around for a couple of hours. No way did I think my 2WD MF would pull me out of this one plus I needed a tractor with a loader to lift my blower out of their first so I could be pulled out in reverse.

I was lucky enough to have a buddy from down the street who has a 1980s Case backhoe loader come right over to give me a hand. We worked at it for another 2.5 hours. The backhoe helped tremendously as he was able to dig up some of the earth behind me and get rid of some of the really wet stuff. Also learned a few tricks on loader kungfu to use the loader curl to help me get out in addition to him pulling the tractor.

Snowblower chute has a little cosmetic damage (darn thing hasn't even been used once!) but I guess farm equipment can't stay pristine.

Tractor is finally freed! but looks like h*** since it was buried half way to the rear rims!

It has been unseasonably warm here this winter. I am hoping some really cold weather sets in so that the ground gets frozen up. If we plan to stay at our farm I think I'm going to take all of the top soil out of the manure area and spread it along with my manure over my pastures and find some clean sandy fill and build that area up.

Every time I go to Princess Auto, I tell myself I ought to get some slip and grab hooks for my chains. Each chain I own just has a hook at one end. I think I finally am going to set myself up better so that the next time I get stuck I will be more prepared.

 

[oldnslo]

Kinda sounds like you where in Deep Sh*t

Glad the only major injury is your pride...

 

[TripleR]

My father in law use to get stuck all the time and when he was stuck, he was STUCK and it required major intervention. Once we hooked two tractors to him and worked on it for several hours. Finally the farmer helping us drove over and got his BIG Case articulated tractor and popped it out. Thankfully it came out in one piece.

 

[moored4]

As others have said before!! NO PICTURES-----DIDN'T HAPPEN!!:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Thomas]

Least the bugs weren't biting.

Now that would been great acion pics.

 

[teg]

You know what they say about bigger tractors.... they dig themselves a bigger hole!!!

 

[moored4]

I have an incredibly muddy area where my manure pile is. ................................................ If we plan to stay at our farm I think I'm going to take all of the top soil out of the manure area and spread it along with my manure over my pastures and find some clean sandy fill and build that area up.
......................................................................

If you go to the trouble of digging out that area then go ahead and put down a concrete pad to store your manure on! :thumbsup:

 

[IndyIan]

Good thing you got it out before the mud started to freeze up! Might've been there till spring!
I did my first barnyard clean up last weekend and managed to churn up the mud to the front axle of the tractor but only got stuck until I dumped my full bucket of manure. In the spring I'll have to do a full clean out and put a decent base in there. Even new R1's have their limits.

 

[canoetrpr]

As others have said before!! NO PICTURES-----DIDN'T HAPPEN!!:laughing::laughing::laughing:

In this case, I'm glad I have no pictures then!

 

[canoetrpr]

If you go to the trouble of digging out that area then go ahead and put down a concrete pad to store your manure on! :thumbsup:

A good idea. The only problem is the ridiculous price of pouring concrete around here!

I would really like to get more land so that I can grow my cattle herd. Probably a silly thing to do as I can just supplement with hay to be able to maintain a few more animals. Transaction costs (brokerage fees, moving fees) to sell my place and buy a bigger will probably buy me A LOT of hay.

The only other thing that drives me nuts about my current land is that it is in a valley and parts of the pasture floods very easily - spring, heavy rains etc.

So one always has to go through the thought process of "I'll never get my money back if I do this improvement... is it worth it or should I just move"